"Thus it is said that one who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be endangered in a hundred engagements."
Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

War on Terrorism

Monday, January 14, 2013

DOD Seminar Examines Afghanistan Security Transition

By Jason Tudor
George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, Jan. 14, 2013 – A seminar at the
Defense Department’s European regional center here Jan. 15-23 will
focus on issues related to the handover of security responsibility from
NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan to the
Afghan national security forces.

Senior Executive Seminar 13-1 at the George C. Marshall European
Center for Security Studies gathers 105 people from 39 countries and
focuses on 11 key themes in security cooperation and counternarcotics.
“Central Asia after ISAF Transition: Regional Challenges and
Cooperative Responses” -- also looks for specific outcomes for those
attending and for the stakeholders, including U.S. Central Command and
U.S. European Command, who count on the Marshall Center for results,
said Marine Corps Col. Philip Lark, the seminar’s deputy director.

“The Marshall Center SES brings together the world’s leading
governmental and ministerial leaders, diplomats, military officers and
security sector specialists in a week of open and frank dialogue,” Lark
said. “What we want in the end is for participants to have recognition
that ISAF transition results in sustainment of Afghan institutions and
long-term international support.”

Lark added that the seminar
should help participants see that “proactive, coordinated support from
the international community is necessary,” and “greater local ownership
of the issues, problems and solutions is required.”

Subject-matter experts and leaders in government will address the
seminar, including Kathleen Hicks, principal deputy under secretary of
defense for policy, and Ambassador Robert Blake, assistant secretary of
state for South and Central Asian affairs.

Other speakers include
retired Navy Adm. Dennis Blair, the third U.S. director of national
intelligence and former commander of U.S. Pacific Command; Mark Destito,
Middle East regional director for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency; and
James Appathurai, the NATO secretary general’s special representative
for the Caucasus and Central Asia. Navy Adm. James Stavridis, NATO’s
supreme allied commander for Europe, is scheduled to address the group
via video teleconference.

The seminar consists of plenary
meetings with all 105 attendees and smaller seminar breakout sessions to
tackle the issues, Lark said. The event is interpreted live into
English and Russian, and includes four Russian special guests, including
a former head of its military intelligence agency and a former state
council representative.

“The role of Central Asia states, the
Caucasus states and Russia is particularly important in consolidating
the gains of more than a decade of military operations,” Lark said.
Eleven ambassadors, including those from the Central Asian states, are
expected to attend.

The seminar is tailored to meet the specific
needs of national ministers, ambassadors, legislators, admirals, general
officers and senior government officials. The results of the SES will
be reported back to Marshall Center stakeholders for use in decisions
about policy and more, officials said.